Using Narrow-Band Data Links in Locating Lightning Strikes

A method of preprocessing lightning-measurement waveforms has been devised to reduce the bandwidth needed to transmit data for computing the locations of lightning strikes. The method is used in a system in which electric fields and electric-field derivatives induced by lightning are measured at remote stations and the measurement data are transmitted to a central station. At the central station, the location of each lightning strike is computed from the known positions of the stations, the speed of light, and the differences among times of arrival of common waveform features at the remote stations. Prior to the development of the present method, in order to achieve a required spatial resolution of tens of meters, it was necessary to transmit full measurement data from each remote station to the central station in real time at a bandwidth of 10 MHz.